


Gingerbread Calamity

by Primarina (PastelBrachypelma)



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Food, Food Kink, Gen, Holidays, could be egobang if ya squint a lot, i guess, the ten minute power hour
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2018-12-26
Packaged: 2019-09-27 19:17:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,932
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17167793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PastelBrachypelma/pseuds/Primarina
Summary: “Ugh. I really want gingerbread right now.”“Well, it can’t be any of this, because someone—and I’m not naming names here—thought it would be a good idea to spray poison all over it.”





	Gingerbread Calamity

**Author's Note:**

> Some anon calling themselves "Snacctime" wanted a fic of Arin eating all the gingerbread used for the Ten Minute Power Hour this week. I changed it to make more sense...? I dunno.
> 
> Hopefully, this is something like you wanted.

“Ugh. I really want gingerbread right now.”

Dan rolls his head towards Arin specifically to give him a stink eye. They’re sitting in the carnage created by a caffeine-induced race to the finish line in the gingerbread house building competition for the Ten Minute Power Hour. Dan wouldn’t say it wasn’t fun, per se, but the fact that he actually could’ve been seriously poisoned has put a damper on the whole thing for him. “Well,” he says carefully, annoyed, “it can’t be any of this,” he spreads a hand across the table, “because someone—and I’m not naming names here—thought it would be a good idea to spray poison all over it.”

Arin looks his friend up and down and stifles a laugh badly. Dan is using a very adult voice, and all Arin can imagine is the older man levelly scolding his nephews about proper sharing procedures. “Look, man,” he tries to defend himself anyway because it’s fun to push Dan’s buttons sometimes, “I didn’t ask you to put it into your mouth or anything.”

Dan rolls his eyes and deflates dramatically all in one semi-fluid motion, falling back into the chair. “Yeah, well,” he says somewhat moodily, “the food Power Hours never fail to make me hungry. I actually ended up ordering pizza after playing that game with Finn, Sean, and Matt.” He noisily blows a stray curl away from his face, crossing his arms over his chest. “And I’ve got a sweet tooth the size of Kansas, so whaddya expect?”

Arin giggles, leaning back against his chair and shifting to face Dan, swinging his knees over the side of the chair. “Dude, your sweet tooth is easily the size of Texas. And I’m hungry, too. I fuckin love food, so every time we do anything with food, I always end up eating after.” He shrugs. “But you got to taste the gingerbread, at least. I wanna taste some.”

Dan’s staring absently into the table, but his lips quirk upwards into a smirk. “I don’t think you wanna taste the poisoned gingerbread, though.”

Arin laughs. “I’ll keep my eyesight, thanks. Seriously, though,” he nudges Dan’s thigh with his knee, grinning conspiratorially, “don’t you want gingerbread we can actually eat?”

At that, Dan’s small grin widens into a smile and he turns, his knees knocking gently against Arin’s. “I kinda do, honestly!” He says, beaming. “But let’s get food first.” He groans softly, placing a hand over his stomach. “I swear, I’ve been so hungry lately…it fuckin’ sucks.”

Arin frowns in sympathy. “You must be skipping a meal or two somewhere.” He knows Dan and Brian have been recording like crazy in addition to prepping for their tour in February, and he knows that always throws Dan’s self-care clock off balance. 

“Not gonna lie, I’ve probably skipped dinner at least twice,” Dan admits ruefully as they finally get up, groaning and stretching from sitting in one spot for so long. “I just end up deciding sleep is more important.”

“You’re dumb,” Arin tosses over his shoulder fondly as they walk through the office. “Going to bed hungry isn’t good for sleeping.”

“Huh. That may explain my dream yesterday.” Dan says brightly, grabbing his jacket and hat.

Arin raises an eyebrow as he grabs his own jacket. “Care to share? Or do I not want to know?”

Dan shrugs. “I mean…just imagine “Singing in the Rain”…but with sushi.”

“To be fair,” Arin says as he grabs his keys, “that does kinda sound like heaven!”

~

They end up driving to a Wegmans. Dan ends up with a turkey sandwich from the sub counter, and Arin gets some sushi and rice. Drinks and food in hand, they mount the stairs to the upper level and find a quiet place to sit and watch all the stay-at-home moms and elderly couples shopping down below.

Arin watches Dan unwrap his food and raises an eyebrow. “So…what happened to dreams of sushi, then?”

Dan takes a big bite of his sub and gives Arin the finger. “Shut up,” he says playfully after he swallows. “I’ve had sushi, like, twelve times this week! I’m sick of sushi.”

Arin dramatically gasps, placing his hand over his heart. “Why, Daniel, how scandalous!” He says, pitching his voice higher and giving himself a hint of a Southern drawl. “I never thought I’d hear you say such a thing!”

Dan giggles, predictably, and sips his Pepsi. “I dunno, I just always end up getting sushi, because it’s quick and easy to eat, and then I can get back to work,” he says, shrugging. “And I’ve had some abysmal sushi from grocery stores before, so no thanks!”

“Hmm,” Arin hums, chewing his own food happily. “Wegmans is always good, though.”

“I guess that’s true,” Dan allows, contemplatively biting into his sandwich again. But he leaves it at that, and they both people-watch for a while, nudging each other’s knees out of the way occasionally.

They’ve been chatting about nothing in particular when Dan, halfway done with his food, leans back and stretches with a groan. “Woof! I’m exhausted!” He laughs like the news surprises him. 

Arin, long done with his food, yawns into his La Croix can. “Yeah, me too. December seems to have lasted forever!” He wonders if Dan was somehow seeking reassurance for feeling worn out, and quickly steps in. “But shit, man, you’ve been burning the candle at both ends for, like, three months.”

Dan shakes his head dismissively. “I’m fine, really. Just these last few weeks, trying to meet deadlines, has me running up and down the walls. I’ll feel better after Christmas.”

“You sure?” Arin knows Dan very well. He knows that Dan will dance around any issues he’s having until he’s forced to confront them head-on. He’s getting better about piping up when he feels overworked, overwhelmed, or overtired, but it’s times like these when he’s got bags under his eyes, pale cheeks, and an inconsistent appetite that little protestations say a lot about his general wellbeing. He leans forward, resting his chin on his palms, giving Danny the floor if he wants it. “You know you can talk to me about anything.”

Dan fidgets for a minute, long fingers flexing against each other, before he meets Arin’s gaze head-on. “I’m…somewhere between ‘fine’ and ‘oh fuck’,” he says at last, making a scale with his hands. “Closer to ‘oh fuck,’ but, like I said, I’ll be happier once I’ve had some time off.” He shrugs, a bit helplessly, Arin observes.

“…Do you want to shorten our session for the day?” Arin asks. It’s something they can easily do. They just need five more sessions to get them through until January, when they’ll both be back home in California, and by then, they’ll both be facing the new year completely rejuvenated. “We can do seven or eight episodes, go home early, if that helps.”

Dan smiles shyly. “Yeah, I’d like that. But can we schedule in time for eating gingerbread and shooting the shit in your office?”

“Of course, Dan,” Arin says sincerely, flattered that Dan actually isn’t sick of him yet. It’s still really weird to him how he and Dan can still manage to have interesting conversations when no cameras or mics are recording. Not to mention that Dan still wants to talk to him, after all that.

“Yay,” Dan smiles and takes another bite of his sub.

~

After a quick pass through the many shelves of Wegmans, Dan and Arin come away with an impressive haul of gingerbread cookies, as well as a gingerbread house Dan insists he’s going to demolish. (To which Arin, naturally, replied with: “I never knew you were a home wrecker!” which earned him a playful, and well-deserved smack.) Dan also insisted on getting some gingery tea as well, and the entire car smells like Christmas as they drive back, singing Dan’s distorted version of “Sleigh Ride” made up of varying vowel sounds and rhyming nonsense words.

They do indeed retreat to Arin’s office, Dan flopping down on the couch and Arin into his chair, groaning quietly. The lights are dim, and the atmosphere is peaceful and calm. Dan’s eyes run along the little figurines and plushies lining the walls, smiling fondly. He recognizes a few from the old Grump room, which was basically just Arin and Suzy’s spare room. It reminds him of simpler times. Harder ones, too. He’s never once stopped being grateful for the opportunities he’s been given, even if there are downsides to fame.

The nostalgia trip ends when Arin tosses a container of cookies at him. “Here, asshat. Dig in.”

Dan snorts, tearing open the package. There are cute little iced gingerbread people inside, and he happily takes a bite. He expected to be quite full after polishing off his sandwich, but it seems, like usual, that his stomach will always find room for sweets. The cookies taste sweet, and are actually soft and chewy, and he grins happily, reaching for the gingerbread house box.

Arin watches him, amused. “I am so confused. I bet that gingerbread tastes like festive cardboard, dude.”

But Dan rips into an icing packet and squeezes a nice lump of it onto his tongue, swallowing it down and licking his lips, and Arin, well…Arin is a little transfixed, though he can’t figure out why. Dan does it again, and Arin swallows with him reflexively.

Dan belches, which lightens the mood, and they go back to chatting about this and that.

~

By the end, the gingerbread house is suitably demolished, and Dan has to wave a white flag of slightly nauseous surrender. 

Eating icing straight had turned out to be both delicious and stupid. Mostly because the back of his tongue is still coated with the taste of pure sugar, and his stomach is twisting in his gut, unsure of what to do with the large quantity of sweet gingerbread it has been made to digest. Tea certainly didn’t help much, except to make him feel slightly bloated and very full.

It feels kinda good, though, he won’t lie. He feels satisfied and relaxed in a way he can’t explain, and even though he’s nauseous, it just feels so good. Arin seems to be in a similar state of bliss, his hands crossed over his belly, eyes closed and head tilted ceilingward.

They’ve both been quiet for some time, just digesting and burping occasionally. Dan stretches with a groan, which causes Arin to stir.

“I never want to see another gingerbread person in my life,” he complains. “Fuck you.”

“Hey, fuck you, too,” Arin laughs. “And you can’t blame me, since you were the one who wanted to eat an entire fuckin’ gingerbread house by himself.”

Dan rolls his eyes. “Whatever. It was good! It felt good to do it!”

“You did look kinda hot doing it,” Arin says thoughtfully, causing Dan to burst out laughing.

“Fuck! ‘m gonna barf if you make me laugh that hard!” Dan protests, still giggling. 

“Not my fault,” Arin grins. “Can’t take the heat, don’t eat the gingerbread!”

“…pretty sure that’s not how the saying goes, Ar,” Dan says affectionately, yawning. “Think the Lovelies will mind if I’m super sleepy for Jingle Grumps today?”

Arin chuckles. “Probably not.”

When they get to the Grump room, Arin pulls Dan close and plays the game with one hand. The other runs up and down Dan’s stomach.

Which, Dan has to admit, is something he wouldn’t mind Arin doing a lot in the future.

Maybe it’s even what he wanted all along.

**Author's Note:**

> Also, I've decided I will be taking commissions in the new year! If you have anything you would like me to do, feel free to send me an ask or a PM at sylviessylk.tumblr.com! DO NOT send me anons for this. Any anonymous requests will automatically be denied. 
> 
> I have yet to figure out commission prices, and I have a right to refuse any request if I feel like:
> 
> 1\. I cannot confidently write it.  
> 2\. It's not related to the Grumps fandom.  
> 3\. It contains gore*, violence, or a lot of sex or sexual themes.
> 
> I'm more likely to take your request if it is egobang, egoflapbang, or Dan/Reader. (I don't feel confident enough to write many of the other Grumps, but I may be willing to try!)
> 
> Ugh. I need to go to sleep now. RIP
> 
> *Includes body horror, copious amounts of blood, strong horror themes, or explicit sexual activity.


End file.
